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Amid freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber, combined with a resolute Hull City side pushing hard for a top-flight place, this had all the ingredients of a difficult evening’s work for the visitors.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a tough fixture; I’m delighted with the display," the manager stated. "This club is very special to me so it was nice to get a good reception from both sets of fans. The application of the lads was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this place close to his heart, given part of his relatives are from Hull and his enjoyable period in charge of the Championship club. This positive connection was extended with a magnificent display from his team, who in the end strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours removed from letting slip a two-goal lead in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this potentially tricky tie. The packed Hull crowd clearly felt it too, but the London side navigated the task with ease.

The manager rang the changes, making seven of them to his XI. The tie might and maybe should have been settled long before it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of missing excellent chances to put their side in front in the first half.

But, luckily for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular long-range strike, which proved to be the spark for his team to assume command of proceedings. By the final whistle, they had 4 goals, with the forward netting three of them for a superb hat-trick.

Delap's Response and Impact

Hull displayed plenty of spirit all game, but the clearer opportunities always fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão ought to have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper Dillon Phillips before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable horror moment in front of goal against his old team.

He deflected a Phillips's clearance which came off the crossbar, and Delap started to run away thinking the ball had gone over the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he understood, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that moment, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing three key passes. The opening was for the opening goal as his through ball teed up Neto to finish from range. Six minutes after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling dribble from the forward laid on Estêvão to tap into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as the provider once again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly convert by a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the effort Hull had done in the first thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their priority must now switch back to achieving a promotion to the top division under their manager, who left out a number of key players with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the next matches this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of effort to the final whistle, and they nearly got a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another positive stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup History Are Promising

The result made for an ultimately routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for Chelsea. They have played Hull on three other times in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is still work in that regard, but this was another significant tick for Rosenior.